Minimal is the new modern.

My name is Leo, and I am the proud owner of Leibal. I devote this blog to the designers and architects who dedicate their souls into the works they design. My passions in design are minimalist aesthetics, multi-functionality, and small space interiors. This blog focuses on promoting the best minimalist designs in regards to furniture, products, interiors, and architecture. We are growing a fan-base of minimalist lovers everyday. If you love what we write about, feel free to comment and follow our posts!

When I was younger my mother regularly subscribed to interior design magazines, while my father did the same with literature on architecture. When they were all well read and no longer in use, I would cut pictures out from them that I fancied, and kept them under my bed in a large trapper keeper. Here I am a decade later with a passion for minimalist furniture, interior design, and carpentry. I write because I love industrial design; where the field has been and where it is going. I am proud to be a part of a blog that is at the cutting edge of minimalist design catered for city living.

Recently I started to wonder how I became so fascinated with interior design and where it all came from. Turns out, the seed was planted early on. My father, who worked in home insurance, would come home every night with stacks of floor plans, and various samples of surface and flooring materials. I was used to being around his closest contractor buddies and making the usual Home Depot trips with him on the weekends. So, instead of becoming a designer (or even an architect), editing and following design trends became my passion. I’ve worked at Country Living magazine, founded and edited a men’s magazine at my college, and now work in design PR. Feel free to contact me with feedback or new products at ktroutman@outlook.com.

I have a Gemini’s passion for both form & function as well as a lack of closet space. Subletting one of the the smallest apartment in Manhattan (according to the Ellen Degeneres show) as an intern forced me to get resourceful. I love the challenge of using and taking inspiration from what is readily available and eliminating the extraneous. To me, minimalist design allows the imagination to run–to think and interact with our space in new ways. Covets CoolHaus ice cream sandwiches, hot yoga, Brooklyn in the sun, Philippe Starck, dogs that wear shoes, subtle neon, outdoor markets, museum gift shops.

I am a furniture and product designer who designs function-based objects using careful observation and research of human interaction and use. I am a recent graduate of Rhode Island School of Design. There is a special feeling that comes with sharing my love of design with others. I hope to promote designs which are well conceived and inspiring. Products that are more or less, dependent on the consumers whims, so that people can use things the way they want, making things more personal and unique through use.